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The Ledgers of Baldr: 4E140-4E143
Actions Reich 1) This is agricultural advisor Stinson's last chance to make the domestication of the Boar a success for both military and Agricultural use. His failure will mark the first execution for treason in the history of the Reich. 2,3,4) EXPANSION HO! Pioneer spirit surges in the wake of Duke Adolf's great work. Stinheim The dwarven elders continue to attempt to spread the use of their alphabet, to aid the ledger systems. Seeing the mass of enemies on the borders, the dwarven centuriate assembly spreads into its respective units, and, equipped with their new mithral armor, begin to train in defensive phalanx formations. The settlers also continue to issue forth from beneath the mountain, driving towards the fissure, in the hopes that it shall be a major hub for their kingdom Mu’lakka 1) Expansion/Military: The Chief once again calls for a muster of ships to aid in the conquest of the big island. 2) Tech: Sailors continue their quest to decipher the mysterious mechanism found so long ago. Ever the experimenters, they try reconstructing it using the finest Ignati timber and recently-acquired Mithril (Any chance I get a roll bonus for better materials? /shrug) 3) Tech: Sailors using fine Ignati hardwoods attempt to construct a twin-hulled design for larger carrying capacity and greater stability. 4) Income: Sailors set about to work on more efficient nets capable of catching and holding greater loads of fish. Ashelani 1) We submasquids nao. The Queen puts the final plans through on how to travel inside the squid beasts and the nautilisks are taught how to stop worrying and love the collective. (tech) 2) The queen sends her tunnels deep beneath the earth to the north in an attempt to explore the cold lands safe away from wind and snow. (expansion, -10 wealth) 3) The Queen attempts to have her drones coat the exo-skeletons of her soldiers with the newly formed resin in an attempt to make them tougher and slip out of otherwise lethal situations. (tech) 4) The Carcinos are used to expand to the south, pushing further towards the plains that the Queen smells on the winds. There she hopes to find other kinds of meat to feed the hive. (expansion, -10 wealth) Ignati Slightly miffed that nothing except expansion actually works for the Ignati, Chimeryx beseeches the elders to continue their good work on the staff(Tech). He also encourages research for spear-throwers to improve the effectiveness of the warriors in combat and hunting (Militairy/Tech). Two more expansions are ordered, into the plains to the southeast of the great lake. In honor of their leader, scouts name it Lake Anthryx. Which, they consider, isn't a very good name, is it? Oh well. Hall of the Five 1) Gojac, past the point of obsession, continues to scrape away at his shiv with the nubbed fingernails on his left hand. He does not realize that Rucahn has lifted the bindings on his chair, nor would he care. All he wants now is a shiv. A good shiv. A sharp shiv. (Shiv) 2) Garma drifts. Space is quite enjoyable when one is immortal. Garma searches planets, teleports into and out of stars, bounces through asteroid fields, and attempt to create a supernova by pouring water directly into stars. What The Sustainer really wants to find, though, is an alien race. So she searches as many planets as she can teleport to, in hopes of finding life to rule over. (Find aliens) 3) Kellus, mildly annoyed that Garma's bears were made stronger by the fire instead of being immolated by it, decides in a fit of what can only be called boy-with-a-microscope cruelty that he should graft tentacles to the firebears. (Military fire-bear-pus) 4) Rucahn is so happy to have his daughter Shua back. He spends long periods of time with her playing the flute duets they used to have such fun with. Shula has lost some of her fluting abilities after 800 years of being dead, but who hasnt? And she is quieter. She's lost her springy energy that she had before the plague. It's probably because she misses her mother. Rucahn needs to bring back her mother, Resa. Rucahn reenlists Gojac's help in reanimating his wife. Gojac grumbles that he's busy but agrees to help so that Rucahn doesn't notice the shiv. (Rucahn has known about the shiv for a while; he has prescience. Also, its pretty obvious; Gojac is constantly scratching at it and mumbling angrily to himself.) (Culture) Derult Derult, eager to begin commerce with other nations and no longer be in crippling debt, attempts to once again re-open the salt mines as well as expand their iron mines (1&2). They also grow weary of this constant talk of rust amongst malfunctioning Derultians, so they attempt to research the exact causes of rust and how it may be stopped (tech, 3). Finally, they attend to their new visitor named RB-5rT who insists on being called Robert for some strange reason, to find out what he knows about rust and how he came to have such erratic behavior (4). Results: Rhiam Reich: 6, 10, 18, 5 Stinson’s execution is a quiet, sad affair that goes largely unnoticed, the Emperor realizing that his gesture to display his power was also kind of a stupid one. Of your three expansion attempts, only the western one across the river succeeds in establishing a lucrative colony (-30 wealth, +7 income). An orc has returned from the southernmost expedition claiming to be the only survivor—he walked into your nation on his amputated leg stumps one evening. He has gone quite mad, and the only phrase that he seems capable of saying is: “The Hunger is dead. Long live the Hunger.” Horrible growths have sprouted from his body, and blood, along with viscous white liquid, leaks from his eyes and nostrils. Naturally, he is kept hidden from the public. Stinheim: 18, 3, 11, 16 Your alphabet is a success, and using it, your engineers are finally able to use letters to substitute for unknown variables in equations, making building much easier (Your +2 to engineering rolls is now a +4). Your dwarfen phalanx training has made no progress. The military adviser to King Baldr Stinheim cites repeated instances of “ill-preparedness,” “disagreeability,” “rampant drunkenness,” and “actual retardation” in your forces that have made this rudimentary, entry-level training very difficult. While one expansion never really gets off the ground, the other is a success, and your dwarfs find themselves on the open plains, the fissure stretching out before them, eternally spewing an impenetrable sheet of thick, white steam high into the sky. (-20 wealth, +7 income) The Mu’lakka Lands: 1, 12, 3, 2 Your navy is being constructed in the port of your southernmost island, but, one simmer midday, the ground begins to shake, and smoke could be seen rising from the island’s sole mountain. Within minutes, runny, quick-flowing lava was pouring downward. You settlement, protected by stone walls, was afforded a modicum of safety, but the harbor was not. Residents watched in horror as the lava ran unending across the bay, trapping the ships. A cloud of ash blown downwind obscured the complete tableau from your villagers, but they could clearly hear the sharp crack of timber being split by fire, and the screams of your shipwrights. No one in the bay survived, and your people have taken this as a sign of anger from the gods. (You cannot raise any navies for 2 turns). The new ship design has halted, as well as the fishing initiative—your people are afraid of what might happen if they further enrage their gods. Attaching the hull, though, has finally been completed, and your prototype ship moves at unreal speeds, the tiny silver intricacies of the hull machinery noiselessly moving as the vessel glides a few inches over the surface of the water. Reproducing this technology will take more time (3 more successes). The Ashelani Dominion: 14, 12, 14, 16 The submarine squids are complete—now coated in chitin-like scales and sporting horrific insectoid mandibles and compound eyes, the beasts travel very quickly underwater and can scuttle a short distance onto beaches to vomit up your warrior broods before slinking back into the deep, their armored tentacles swishing and rattling behind them (+2 to naval rolls, you are now capable of reaching Isaac, Michael, Tyler, and Nathan). The expansion north is a hard one, but your warriors are able to tunnel under the ice using their sturdy resin and have established an underground refuge from the harmful cold (-10 wealth, +6 income). The warriors, in addition, now secrete waxy resin from their hides, although this has less practical application than the queen had hoped (+1 military bonus). Your expansion to the south is a larger success than the one to the north, and your explorers, riding the horrifying Carcino species that your race has become known for, have reached the great split in the earth that divides the continent. No attempts have been made to cross it, as the steam that issues forth from the gap night and day softens your resin bridges and makes them collapse. Delving down, your soldiers see strange, beautiful not-foods the likes of which they have never seen before (+7 income, -10 wealth). The Ignati Tribes: 16, 1, 8, 15 The staff is the shaft of a spear, your researchers deduce. Upon uttering a simple incantation, the spear shaft glows bright blue, and a long, crackling tip emerges, seemingly composed of lightning itself. This thunder spear is very powerful but has yet to be reproduced successfully (2 more successes). This year’s batch of ironwood was ridden by a blight that caused the wood to weaken and crack, and by the end of three years all of your spears are worthless, and your hunting industry suffers (your hunting industry no longer generates any income). Of the two expansions, one is a success, but the other fails (-20 wealth, +6 income). The Halls of the Five: 20, 19, 2, 2 Gojac’s shiv is finally complete—its humble appearance masking the fact that it is a weapon worthy of a god. The weapon is a foot-long point of oak, filed to perfect sharpness and stained dark with lich blood, covered in almost indecipherable tiny magical runes. In wars long past, the shiv could have decimated entire armies. It is also capable of killing a god by binding his soul inside the runes on its grip (Epic tech achieved! +5 military bonus, Gojac is now trying to hunt down and kill Rucahn. Epic tech cannot be traded). Garma, high is space, eventually lands on a verdant green planet of eternal summer, much larger than Celtanus. The planet has been embroiled in a religious war that has lasted for the past 15 years, and Garma lands in a human city-state that stretches along the length of a long river. The inhabitants are far more technologically advanced than those on Celtanus, Garma notes, as rudimentary cybernetics made of brass and gold seem to be common, as well as steam power. The city is occupied by a hostile force of angels who terrorize the populace and enforce the worship of a new god. In the center of the city, Garma can see a ruined basilica, its statues toppled and its windows broken. A golden throne in a high room of the once-great church sits empty, gathering dust. Garma has taken up residence in this room on this alien planet, poring through gilded copies of old books and diplomatic ledgers. The preface to each book is the same: “Glory to Constantine, Ruler of the Universe” (RP in separate thread at your own leisure). Grafting tentacles to your bears was a stupid idea, in retrospect, Kellus realizes. Also, Gojac has decided not to resurrect Rucahn’s wife, because seriously, fuck Rucahn. Derult: 6, 19, 10, 17 Efficiency measures are enacted, and your salt mines are back up to code (they now produce 2 income once again). The iron mines are far more efficient of an operation than they once had been, and the sand is now sifted for ore more and more systematically (your iron mines now produce 5 income). Your species, after much analysis, is unable to come up with many concrete statements about the rust, other than it exists, it impairs movement and cognitive functioning, and that it spreads during humidity. A group of functioning Derultians go to visit Robert, who has taken to rambling, and ask him about the rust. Strumming on a strange stringed instrument that they have never seen before, Robert doesn’t really tell them anything new. As they turn to leave, they notice that a crowd of rusted-up robots has crowded around Robert, silently listening to his music—many of them in severe disrepair. “What is it that you’re playing?” one of the non-rusted Derultians queries with a small whirr. “Why are they so responsive to it?” Rob looks at the robot, his once-white eye windows yellowed over with rust and desert sand. “I call it the blues.” (+2 culture) Category:The Ledgers of Baldr